The Meaning of Conservative

In his letter opposing Touchstone’s use of the word conservative
to describe believing Christians (see below), Mr. Arthur Powers raises an important
question:

What word can we use that will not be misunderstood? With him, we
would not want anyone to think that we held all that is now covered by the word
conservative. Many ideas called conservative disrupt the things we
wish to conserve—the repellent libertarianism of Ayn Rand, for example,
and certain forms of nationalism.

Conservative is not the perfect word, but it may still be the best
one. I edited an Episcopal magazine for about 15 years, and I never found any
satisfactory way to
. . .

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Touchstone is a Christian journal, conservative in doctrine and eclectic in content, with editors and readers from each of the three great divisions of Christendom—Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox.

The mission of the journal and its publisher, The Fellowship of St. James, is to provide a place where Christians of various backgrounds can speak with one another on the basis of shared belief in the fundamental doctrines of the faith as revealed in Holy Scripture and summarized in the ancient creeds of the Church.